New on DVD and Blu-ray: 10/14/14

This week’s home-video roundup brings a rare TV recommendation, because this week sees the DVD and Blu-ray release of the first season of the FX series Fargo. A former Dissolve Movie Of The Week, the Coen brothers’ Fargo was an unlikely choice to become a cable drama, since so much of what makes the movie special is tied to the Coens’ sensibility. But TV Fargo’s creator Noah Hawley pays homage to the Coens while creating his own original story, with its own look and tone, bolstered by outstanding performances from Allison Tolman (as a shrewd, good-hearted Minnesota cop), Martin Freeman (as a nebbish who discovers that he’s good at crime), and Billy Bob Thornton (as the embodiment of evil, who poses a moral test to all the other characters). Funny, gripping, and visually stylish even by the standards of modern prestige television, Fargo is a treat from start to finish, and worthy of its name.

Speaking of past Movies Of The Week, one of our earliest entries, Los Angeles Plays Itself, is available for the first time ever on DVD and Blu-ray this week, apparently having been cleared of any rights issues stemming from its extensive use of old movie clips (to illustrate how Los Angeles has been used and misused in cinema). And speaking of quality television with a film connection, today brings the DVD/BD release of the first season of Showtime’s clever horror series Penny Dreadful, written by Gladiator/The Aviator/Skyfall’s John Logan, with the first two episodes directed by The Orphanage/The Impossible’s Juan Antonio Bayona. Lastly, I haven’t seen this yet, but I’m looking forward to checking out the documentary Eurocrime!, which looks back at the history and legacy of the Italian poliziotteschi genre. The Italian crime pictures of the 1970s were violent and vibrant, and more than worthy of a fan-doc like this.